A worse-than-expected reading of the ADP employment report on Wednesday prompted a sell-off on markets after it sparked concerns that the official non-farm payrolls figure on Friday could also disappoint. The S&P 500 dropped 1.1% yesterday, the largest fall in over a month.

Sentiment was given a lift on Thursday by the aggressive easing measures announced by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) as newly-appointed Governor Haruhiko Kuroda took the helm determined to fight deflation. Rates were kept at record lows but Kuroda said that the BoJ would double the monetary base over the next two years.

Meanwhile, both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank decided to maintain rates earlier in the day.

Ahead of Friday's all-important employment report, the head of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, John Williams, said he expects the outlook for the jobs market to improve enough to begin tapering the Fed's quantitative easing programme this summer. Williams expects the US economy to grow by 2.5% this year and as much as 3.25% in 2014 as the unemployment rate falls below 7.0%.

However, this optimism was countered by the jobless claims figures today, which climbed to a four-month high of 385,000 in the week to March 30th, from the prior week's 357,000. The consensus estimate was for a slight fall to 353,000.

Facebook jumps on 'Home' launch
Social networking giant Facebook saw shares surge on Thursday after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new smartphone from HTC which showcases new software called 'Home'. The new user interface is aimed to make the mobile more Facebook-centric. The devices will run on Google's Android operating system.

Electronics retailer Best Buy was a high riser after confirming that 1,400 of its shop would include 'Samsung Experience Shops', or Samsung mini-stores, to showcase the tech group's gadgets.

Provident New York Bancorp finished strongly after saying that it would buy Sterling Bancorp in a stock deal worth $344m. The latter's stock surged to its highest level in over three years.